2 Kings 18:13–20

Sennacherib Invades Judah

18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty.21 If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.”22 So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents23 of silver and thirty talents of gold. 18:15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver in24 the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace. 18:16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts which he had plated25 and gave them to the king of Assyria.

18:17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser26 from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem,27 along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went28 and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.29 18:18 They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.

18:19 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence?30 18:20 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk.31 In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me?

21	tn Or “I have done wrong.”
22	tn Heb “Return from upon me; what you place upon me, I will carry.”
23	tn The Hebrew term כִּכָּר (kikkar, “circle”) refers generally to something that is round. When used of metals it can refer to a disk-shaped weight made of the metal or to a standard unit of weight, generally regarded as a talent. Since the accepted weight for a talent of metal is about 75 pounds, this would have amounted to about 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.
24	tn Heb “that was found.”
25	tn Heb “At that time Hezekiah stripped the doors of the Lord’s temple, and the posts which Hezekiah king of Judah had plated.”
26	sn For a discussion of these titles see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 229–30.
27	map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
28	tn Heb “and they went up and came.”
29	tn Heb “the field of the washer.”
30	tn Heb “What is this object of trust in which you are trusting?”
31	tn Heb “you say only a word of lips, counsel and might for battle.” Sennacherib’s message appears to be in broken Hebrew at this point. The phrase “word of lips” refers to mere or empty talk in Prov 14:23.